


Slight Detour

by Becca_Lavender



Category: Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (TV)
Genre: AU, F/M, Fluff, season one
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-05
Updated: 2017-01-12
Packaged: 2018-09-14 22:39:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,709
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9207788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Becca_Lavender/pseuds/Becca_Lavender
Summary: Set during 1.04, a little fluffy AU answering the question:  What if Greg decided to stick around the taco festival for one more taco before heading home?





	1. Chapter 1

Breathing heavily, Rebecca could feel the full blown panic attack creeping up as she exited the Port-O-Potty. She looked over at Greg, who was staring at his phone and luckily didn't spot her. She looked towards all the tacos and other animal product temptations from the day, and felt the urge to run towards the pork and away from the seemingly healthier choice in front of her. In the moment, it was completely a fight or flight instinct, and she fled straight to the meat. Indeed, she was allowing her baser instincts to take over, even if the man she was running from clearly had ideas of her giving in to her baser instincts in a different way altogether. 

She cringes when she is caught by the vegan, and she comfortably settles into the casual flirtation and sends a quick text to Greg, feeling a slight twinge of guilt, but an even stronger feeling of relief. She shuts her eyes and wills the thought of Greg out of her mind, and gives the pretend vegan a hard time for also bowing to the temptation of pork. 

"God, this is even better than I remembered it tasting like," Rebecca said, closing her eyes and savoring the rich flavor. She had to give Greg his due-the cauliflower did not measure up. 

"You'd better be careful. I hear it can be hard on your stomach to reintroduce meat into your diet after a 48-hour deprivation," a voice said behind her, which sounded alarmingly like Greg. Not sure if she was hoping more for the voice to actually be Greg or just her mind playing tricks on her, she slowly turned around. Unless her mind was really playing tricks on her, it was indeed Greg. 

"I sensed that, which is why I was going to Uber home and spare your car from any risks," Rebecca said, grinning sheepishly in a way she hoped he found cute. 

"Thanks, but I can assure you my car has come back from far worse than any damage you could do to it," he said, just sounding sad and resigned. She would gladly have taken anger over the sad look in his eyes, like he had always known the day would somehow end in rejection for him. 

"Is this guy bothering you?" Of course the fake vegan would pick this moment to make his presence known.

"No, you two go ahead and enjoy your date," Greg said, beginning to walk away. 

"Greg, wait! It's not like that," she said, racing to catch up to him. She doesn't look back towards the other man at all. The thought briefly crosses her mind that she did not pay for her taco, but figures the faux vegan must get some sort of Taco Festival discount for his guacamole contest victory. 

"Tell me what it's like then," Greg said in return, a little edge creeping into his voice.

Rebecca sighed, not knowing quite what to say. She wasn't sure she could even fully articulate it herself. Before Rebecca could spit out any words, Greg spoke again. 

"Is this because I suggested we go back to your place?" He looked down at the ground, not making eye contact. "I hope you know just because of what happened at Beans' party, I don't expect....I mean, God, I'm terrible at all of this...I'm sorry if I was being presumptuous, or at least came off as being presumptuous. Because if there's anything about me I hope you got out of the party, it's that I'm not going to pressure you into anything."

He still wouldn't meet her eyes, and she felt a pang in her chest that she couldn't quite identify. She could almost hear him chastising himself internally, a feeling she could relate to all too well. She wondered if he had a theme song for it as well. If he had scared her earlier when he saw right through her carefully crafted cover story and told her she had clearly had a nervous breakdown, she was terrified to realize just how closely linked their neuroses appeared to be. She took a deep breath to calm herself, not wanting to hurt him again. 

"Hey," she said softly, lightly touching his arm. "I'd have been offended if you didn't at least hint that you were interested in sleeping with me."

He let out a surprised chuckle, clearly taken aback. He reddened slightly before clutching his chest playfull and saying, "I'm just a man, Bunch." 

"Well, you're ahead of me. I think 50% of the time I'm just a frightened little girl," she said before she could stop herself. 

"Right there with ya," Greg said, smiling softly as their eyes held. "And as far as the rest of this date goes, there are three options as best I can tell. You can go ahead and get that ride share you were planning on, I can drop you off at home, or we can continue the date. Just so you know, if you were to be so kind as to let me into your place, I'm fine with any activity you choose, be it watching TV or board games. As we established, I'm not great at this, but I think the goal is to spend time together and get to know each other better."

He looked so earnest and hopeful in that moment that she had to fight the urge to kiss him, and she vaguely wondered if a tiny bit of this self-deprecation was an act. He could certainly switch on the charm at a moment's notice. After two days of having butter slogans in her head reminding her to make better, healthier choices, she was ready to just enjoy herself with this smart, charming guy who seemed to be getting cuter as the afternoon progressed. 

"So, did you mean it when you said you'd be all right with board games? Because I am pretty amazing at Scrabble. I'm not sure your masculinity can handle it," she said teasingly. He smiled, his eyes lighting up, no sign of disappointment at her suggestion of something as nerdy as Scrabble. 

"First, I'll have you know that I am amazing at all word games," Greg fired back. "Second, I'm not sure that losing at Scrabble is a particularly emasculating event."

In Rebecca's experience, losing to a girl was generally an emasculating event for most guys, no matter what the event. 

"So, I don't have to feign a smaller vocabulary so you don't leave feeling like less of a man?" Rebecca teased, smirking slightly.

"To be clear, I don't ever want you dumbing yourself down for me. I can take all the brilliance you've got," Greg said sincerely. Rebecca was beginning to sense she was getting more than she bargained for. She also felt like Greg deserved a reward. 

"Well, I just wanted to give you fair warning before you were sitting in your boxers with me fully clothed," Rebecca said suggestively. 

"What kind of house rules do you play with?" Greg asked, somehow both raising an eyebrow skeptically and leering at the same time. 

"Didn't I tell you? We're playing strip Scrabble, unless you can't handle it," Rebecca said seriously, fighting a smile. 

"Bring it on, Bunch," Greg said, and then they started walking to his car, his hand sitting comfortably on the small of her back.


	2. Chapter 2

"So, I will admit I am a strip Scrabble virgin," Greg said casually, eyes fixed on the road ahead of him. "What exactly are the rules? I'm not sure I get where the stripping comes in."

Rebecca didn't actually know herself; she had just liked the sound of it on the time and had seen it in a movie once. Unfortunately, the movie didn't really lay out the rules of the game. She hadn't actually thought that far ahead, and was grateful that Greg didn't actually know the rules so she could make this up as she went along. "It's been awhile, but as I recall, the loser of each hand has to remove an article of clothing," Rebecca said, figuring that was the most logical way to incorporate stripping into Scrabble.

"And what does the winner of the whole game get?"

"Um...Bragging rights, and uh, the joy of ultimately being the more fully clothed," Rebecca stuttered out. She wasn't sure if the winner of the game should get some sort of ultimate prize for the victory, but she couldn't come up with a better answer.

"Okay," Greg said, then turned slightly towards her while they were stopped at a red light, giving her a quick once over. "What exactly are we categorizing as clothes? I hope you're not including those earrings you're wearing. For all I know, you have five hidden toe rings under your socks."

Rebecca rolled her eyes, which Greg didn't see because the light changed. "Do you really think I have to cheat?"

"You're a lawyer," Greg said. "It wouldn't be cheating, but good lawyering. I'm just trying to make sure I don't enter into a bad contract."

"Fine. Jewelry doesn't count."

"Good. So what if there's a tie?" Greg asked.

Rebecca was beginning to wonder just who the attorney was. "We both have to take off a piece of clothing," Rebecca improvised.

"So we both lose?" Greg asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Or we both win, depending on your perspective."

"Touche," Greg said, grinning slightly.

When they pulled up in front of her apartment, neither of them initially made any movement to get out of the car. Greg looked slightly preoccupied, as though he wanted to say something but couldn't quite find the words.

"Is everything okay? If you're nervous about literally losing your shirt, I promise I won't gloat too much at my inevitable victory," she said, trying for some playful bravado.

"It's just...." Greg started, then stopped, avoiding eye contact. He seemed to be mulling something over, but Rebecca couldn't figure out what could be stopping him from coming inside her apartment and possibly seeing her at least partially naked.

"It's just what?" Rebecca asked, feeling the urge to touch his arm but not sure if it would be appreciated.

"It seems like I misunderstood your earlier desire to flee," Greg said, turning towards her finally. "I had thought you got nervous about things maybe going too far at your place, but that clearly doesn't seem to be what the problem was. As much as I'd love to be the guy who just goes with the flow and gets you naked through my unexpectedly large vocabulary, going from you trying to ditch me to inviting me in for strip word games is giving me a bit of whiplash."

Rebecca felt her pulse quicken and tried to control her breathing, feeling the same anxiety creep back that had hit her in the Port-o-Potty. She wasn't sure how to explain that this very adult conversation about her motivations frightened her far more than the prospect of strip Scrabble or any activities that would ensue afterwards. When it became clear her wasn't getting an answer, Greg sighed and rubbed his temples. "Do you want me to just go?" he asked finally. "I guess I thought things had been going really well for awhile there, but maybe you were just being polite." He looked sad again, like he had back at the taco festival.

"Does that sound like me?" Rebecca asked, catching his eye and smiling slightly, hoping to get back to their normal rapport.

"With me? No," Greg said after a beat, and Rebecca let out the breath she didn't know she was holding. "But I don't know what your standard date behavior is like."

"Well, when a guy sweeps you off your feet by saying you're not nice to him when asking her out, you don't want to disappoint him, " Rebecca said. She nudged him slightly with her shoulder, and he rewarded her with a sheepish grin. She felt small rush of warmth, with the stray thought that she really hadn't seen him smile very often before.

"I've been told I have a way with words," he said. "And now, the conversation has gone full circle."

"Speaking of full circle....do you want to come in, or do you want to go home?" At this stage, Rebecca wasn't entirely sure of what she wanted his answer to be.

"I have a confession to make," Greg said meaningfully as he leaned in closer, his voice dropping an octave that was far from unappealing. "While I know you think I'm intimidated by your Ivy League credentials, I am pretty sure this strip Scrabble scenario is going to lead to me being considerably more distracted than you. I'd hate to lose because I was....distracted."

"So you want to come in and really just play Scrabble?" Rebecca asked, somewhat puzzled. It sort of felt like a rejection, as she couldn't imagine why he was turning down the prospect of nudity. As opposed to her, it was entirely possible that he was actually just trying to be nice. Usually guys waited until after sex to lose interest. She tried to not let the hurt show on her face, but she could tell she was unsuccessful when his face registered her hurt just like it did that night at Spiders'.

Greg shrugged. "I've always really enjoyed word games, or actually, almost any board game or card game, so long as it involves strategy and not luck. Nothing is more humiliating than consistently losing to Chan in Candyland as a kid and watching him do literal backflips in victory, as though he achieved anything," Greg stopped himself mid tangent. "So, anyhow, I actually don't get to do things like play Scrabble very often, even though it's something I really enjoy."

Rebecca felt a small pang in her chest, as the wistfulness in his voice was something she could relate to. With his circle of lifelong friends and his seeming devotion to his dad, she hadn't ever thought of Greg as being particularly lonely. "Me too," Rebecca said simply, and their eyes held for a moment. Then Rebecca sat straight up and gasped, causing Greg to look almost comically startled. "I can't believe in all of this Scrabble talk that I had completely forgotten that I had bought this Deluxe Scrabble set right when I moved to West Covina. It has real wood tile holders, the board has separators and it turns so you don't have to worry about messing up the board. I then downloaded a Scrabble dictionary app, but some people online say Scrabble shouldn't be played with phones nearby at all in case someone cheats, so I then ordered a Scrabble dictionary from Amazon. I haven't actually had a game night yet or been to a game night, so none of it's been used..." This time Greg's face lit up in a full smile, like he couldn't quite contain himself. She decided she definitely liked his smile.

"Wow, you really are a nerd," he said, looking almost delighted. She rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out at him, moving to get out of the car, and he followed suit. When they got into her apartment, he turned to her, a serious look on his face again.

"Before we get started, I do have a question for you. I hope it won't make you think less of me," Greg said.

"What?" she asked cautiously, not quite sure where this could be going.

"Rutherford B. Hayes. I've been wracking my brain all day, and I can't figure out the obvious reasons why he would be your favorite president," Greg said, unable to hold back his smirk.  "There's avoiding going for the obvious, and then there's just being intentionally obscure to show off your intellect."

She let out an exaggerated sigh, admittedly amused by his teasing. "If you had taken an entire course on him in college, you would feel the same."

"A whole _course_? I'm not sure I believe you," Greg said, raising an eyebrow and laughing.

"Fine, it was a self-directed independent study," she admitted. "Once I decide I'm interested in something, I want to know everything. I don't like to do anything halfway."

"Now that I believe," Greg said.  

**Author's Note:**

> This is the last chapter. I have a couple of angstier ideas running around my head, as well as a somewhat light futurefic as well. Please let me know if you enjoyed this little fluffy alternate look at the past.


End file.
